For the first time, South Sudan and Kosovo have been recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Kosovo, which was a province of the former Yugoslavia, will have 8 athletes competing; and a good shot for a medal in women's judo: Majlinda Kelmendi is considered a favorite. She's ranked first in the world in her weight class.

(PHOTO: Workers set up camp at Santiago's Rio Mapocho/Mason Bryan, The Santiago Times)Chile nears 1 month without mail service as postal worker protests continue. This week local branches of the 5 unions representing Correos de Chile voted on whether to continue their strike into a 2nd month, rejecting the union's offer. For a week the workers have set up camp on the banks of Santiago's Río Mapocho displaying banners outlining their demands; framing the issue as a division of the rich & the poor. The strike’s main slogan? “Si tocan a uno, nos tocan a todos,” it reads - if it affects 1 of us, it affects all of us. (Read more at The Santiago Times)

WHO convenes emergency talks on MERS virus

(PHOTO: Saudi men walk to the King Fahad hospital in the city of Hofuf, east of the capital Riyadh on June 16, 2013/Fayez Nureldine)The World Health Organization announced Friday it had convened emergency talks on the enigmatic, deadly MERS virus, which is striking hardest in Saudi Arabia. The move comes amid concern about the potential impact of October's Islamic hajj pilgrimage, when millions of people from around the globe will head to & from Saudi Arabia. WHO health security chief Keiji Fukuda said the MERS meeting would take place Tuesday as a telephone conference & he told reporters it was a "proactive move". The meeting could decide whether to label MERS an international health emergency, he added. The first recorded MERS death was in June 2012 in Saudi Arabia & the number of infections has ticked up, with almost 20 per month in April, May & June taking it to 79. (Read more at Xinhua)

HUM HUMOR

"CLIMATE CHANGE: EVERYWHERE"

CARTOON: Peter Broelman, Australia/BROELMAN.com.au)

LINKS TO OTHER STORIES

Dreams and nightmares - Chinese leaders have come to realize the country should become a great paladin of the free market & democracy & embrace them strongly, just as the West is rejecting them because it's realizing they're backfiring. This is the "Chinese Dream" - working better than the American dream. Or is it just too fanciful? By Francesco Sisci

The South: Busy at the polls - South Korea's parliamentary polls will indicate how potent a national backlash is against President Lee Myung-bak's conservatism, perceived cronyism & pro-conglomerate policies, while offering insight into December's presidential vote. Desire for change in the macho milieu of politics in Seoul can be seen in a proliferation of female candidates. By Aidan Foster-Carter

Pakistan climbs 'wind' league - Pakistan is turning to wind power to help ease its desperate shortage of energy,& the country could soon be among the world's top 20 producers. Workers & farmers, their land taken for the turbine towers, may be the last to benefit. By Zofeen Ebrahim

Entries in West Africa
(1)

(HN, November 22, 2010) -- After more than 26 years of autocratic rule, a tumultuous and at times brutally violent post-coup era, and a fraught electoral period, the people of Guinea were entitled to some time to celebrate the fact that a civilian had finally been elected president.

But in an indication of the deep-seated animosity, fears and mistrust that have led the bauxite-rich West African nation to the brink of disaster time and time again, the Nov. 15 announcement that former Prime Minister Alpha Condé had won the second-round run-off election was accompanied by ethnic riots, mass arrests and killings at the hand of security forces, as well as a state of emergency.

Both Condé and his defeated rival, Cellou Dalien Diallo, urged calm after the tight race's official result provoked street protests that left at least 10 dead, according to one West African human-rights group.

Compounding the tensions are the actions of a military at loose ends as it bids what is hoped to be a farewell to its central role in Guinean politics. Soldiers have begun what the International Crisis Group has called "active participation" in the violence: "beating, molesting and shooting defenseless civilians and destroying their property."

Conakry, Guinea - photo courtesy of US Department of State Guinea's international partners are desperate to normalize relations and resume -- or in some cases, begin -- supplying developmental assistance to the impoverished population. Guinea couldn't have done any better at starting out on the wrong foot if it had wanted to.

The European Union, World Bank and United States specifically are keen to rebuild relationships and turn the spigots of assistance back on. Development aid and a plan for a fishing partnership, suspended by Brussels, are foremost on the international agenda. Washington is especially prepared to reward democratic progress by swiftly unblocking aid.

Now, according to some Guinea watchers, efforts to develop infrastructure and public systems might have to wait just a bit longer -- a risk that the population, more than 30 percent of whom are under age 25, can barely afford. - Lauren Gelfand (continue reading @ WorldPoliticsReview)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
HUMNEWS: CLOSING THE GEOGRAPHIC GAP IN MEDIA. Human Media, 2017.
All original material on HUMNEWS.COM is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
This means you are welcome to use, distribute and share our original material but we ask that you give us credit for it, don't try to make money off of it, or alter the originally-published work.
Please note: Some images and video used on HUMNEWS.COM are sourced from other individuals and organizations. In this case, you will need permission to republish them from their creators, as they may have different copyright terms.
HUMNEWS Website Header Photo Credit: NASA Visible Earth http://visibleearth.nasa.gov